Kalahari Resorts indoor water park at Pocono Manor would be largest on continent

If Kalahari Resorts fulfills its proposal and builds a 300,000-square-foot indoor water park in the Poconos, it would officially qualify as the biggest in North America.

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By MICHAEL SADOWSKI

poconorecord.com

By MICHAEL SADOWSKI

Posted Oct. 10, 2012 at 12:01 AM

By MICHAEL SADOWSKI
Posted Oct. 10, 2012 at 12:01 AM

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If Kalahari Resorts fulfills its proposal and builds a 300,000-square-foot indoor water park in the Poconos, it would officially qualify as the biggest in North America.

The Wisconsin-based company plans to build a mega-resort over the next two years in Pocono Manor. The potential size of the park would dwarf a 218,000-square-foot indoor water park in Canada and Kalahari's own park in Sandusky, Ohio.

David Sangree, president of Hotel & Leisure Advisors LLC hospitality consulting firm in Cleveland, said if the indoor water park reaches its full build-out at 300,000 square feet — about six acres — it could "certainly be a game-changer for the Poconos."

His company has tracked the evolution of indoor water parks since the late 1990s.

"We've done a few studies on this, and what we've found is that when you have a bigger park, people tend to want to return more," Sangree said. "There's the feeling for kids that they didn't do everything they wanted to do and they're excited about returning."

The potential fulfillment of an indoor water park of that size is still in the early planning stages, however.

Kalahari plans to build an indoor water park of 100,000 square feet during the first of its three-phase construction project planned to start in April. Resort officials would then hope to open by November 2014.

It plans to submit preliminary land development plans to Tobyhanna Township in November or early December, with an eye toward having local construction approval by the winter.

The two additional phases each would add another 100,000 square feet of space to the park.

Kalahari President and CEO Todd Nelson has said he'd like to start construction on the second phase by late summer of 2015. However, both he and other Kalahari officials have said additional expansion past the first phase will be need-based and contingent on early vacancy.

Even at 100,000 square feet, the project would easily be the biggest indoor water park in Pennsylvania, topping Great Wolf Lodge's 79,000 square feet in Scotrun and the 53,000 square feet of space at Split Rock's H20ooohh! indoor water park in Lake Harmony.

At 200,000 square feet through phase 2, Kalahari's local project would be the biggest in the country. Currently, the Kalahari Resorts location in Sandusky, Ohio, is the biggest in the country at 173,000 square feet.

The biggest in North America is World Waterpark in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, at 218,000 square feet, according to Sangree.